GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Discussion related to the Garmin GPSMAP 66sr GPSr
CheminerWill
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GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by CheminerWill »

Well I finally got myself a 66sr so I will likely be guilty of increasing the size of this forum with my questions and observations!

I saw that “Use With GPS Off” is intentionally missing. Do you know why Garmin did this? I used that a lot. And if you are playing with settings or whatever inside the house is there any other way to prevent the unit from constantly searching for and failing to find satellites?

I did notice the brightness difference and that it has been noted as bug #6. I have not used the unit much yet, but at first brush it seems like it might be good to have more brightness if needed at times? Although I don’t think I really had any complaints about the brightness of the 66st. Is it known if Garmin also did this intentionally? If someone was turning down brightness to save battery and even a small brightness percentage of say 5% is still too bright to accomplish that, then it will be a problem. I guess I will have to experiment with this outdoors to check if I see it as an improvement or drawback.

It is nice that bugs 4 and 8 are noted as fixed by Garmin. My eyes have a hard time distinguishing between the red and orange color there, but it looks like there is a lot of red on that issues page!
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GPSrChive
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by GPSrChive »

You do not see 'Setup > System > Satellite System > Demo Mode'?
CheminerWill
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by CheminerWill »

Thanks. I never used that or noticed it before. Just used to press menu> then choose it to be off. Used to be 2 presses to get to it now I think it is 9 if you include the 2 scrolls down to Demo. But it is not something that is used by me that often so not a big deal. Interesting though that after going into Demo mode they left the 2 press option to get out of it so from the satellite screen all you need to do is Menu>Use With GPS On. There must have been a reason for it but as a user it is hard to understand why they would take the time to remove something useful and functional like that rather than spend the time on fixing one of the bugs.
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GPSrChive
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by GPSrChive »

Ah, yes....

GPSrChive > GPSMAP 66sr > Common Issues > Bug #7: "'Use With GPS Off' selection missing from Satellite page option menu." and the included note: Garmin: "This is intentional and will not be changed."

This change came apparently came about with the inclusion of inReach capabilities in multiple Garmin handheld devices. They elected to remove this option menu selection to prevent the 'accidental disabling of GNSS systems' on inReach devices.

Of course, the GPSMAP 66sr is not an inReach device, and I have argued this very point with Garmin, but they do not appear to be interested in budging.

Apparently, someone at Garmin believes their user base just isn't smart enough to keep this menu option available. Or something like that...
CheminerWill
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by CheminerWill »

Interesting. At least they had a reason for doing it even if we don't agree with it. For me at least not a huge deal as I noted as it is not that often I need that function.

On another note, although I have not hiked and recorded a track yet to compare, I can see this unit indeed is much more accurate than my 66st. I set it outside on a table recording this morning and left it for 1-1/2 hours. Trip computer said it move 1 foot during that time. I suspect I will not only have more accurate tracks, but less cleanup afterwards. Especially when I forget to pause it when stopping for lunch.
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GPSrChive
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by GPSrChive »

CheminerWill wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 11:44 pm On another note, although I have not hiked and recorded a track yet to compare, I can see this unit indeed is much more accurate than my 66st. I set it outside on a table recording this morning and left it for 1-1/2 hours. Trip computer said it move 1 foot during that time. I suspect I will not only have more accurate tracks, but less cleanup afterwards. Especially when I forget to pause it when stopping for lunch.
I also leave 'Auto Pause' disabled on my GPSMAP 66sr, and even after a full 8 hours of recording my 5+ mile journey walking around a zoo yesterday, I have absolutely zero clean up to perform.

66sr WWZ 5 Miles 8 Hours No Cleanup.png
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sylverview
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by sylverview »

I'm brand new at this forum, so please forgive me if I comeet some fault. I noticed that sometimes when I do the following sequence: Find push button->Recorded Activities->Enter pushbutton->on the current activity->Enter, sometimes the gps device performs a suddent power off. I said sometimes because sometime it shows the trackback option as it should be.
I upscaled this comment to Garmin and they have created a ticket, so I'm waiting for some answer or a new software release.
This device has an weather forecast app, but at least in my short experience with my new GPSMAP 66SR, the updating information from the servers is extremely slow and each time after pages exchange eg. wind to temperature or clouds the device upload the information making the browsing so bored. Please let me know if somebody has noted that.
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GPSrChive
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by GPSrChive »

Welcome sylverview!

Which firmware is you GPSMAP 66sr?

We will need to know your Recording controls settings and status when the crash occurs to we can try and duplicate.

The weather app is not fast, but once all data is loaded, the animation will be smooth, like shown at GPSrChive.com
sylverview
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by sylverview »

Hello, the Firmware version is 3.30.
The crash happens as follows. During recording an activity pushing find then go to Recorded activities, pushing the enter, on the D-Pad left and then enter. It is necessary to mention that the crash doesn't happen always but really very often. Sometimes it happens so, find then go to Recorded activities, then pushing the enter twice. Recording is in Auto mode.
I noticed that the forecast updates with the only requisite that the device were connected to Internet via WiFi, however the weather map requires a mobile phone connected to Internet and the App conect active and the position lock into the Gps. In my opinion would be great if mobile phone could be skipped to all the weateher data acquisition.
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GPSrChive
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Re: GPSMAP 66sr Questions and Observations

Unread post by GPSrChive »

sylverview wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 12:43 am Hello, the Firmware version is 3.30.
The crash happens as follows. During recording an activity pushing find then go to Recorded activities, pushing the enter, on the D-Pad left and then enter. It is necessary to mention that the crash doesn't happen always but really very often. Sometimes it happens so, find then go to Recorded activities, then pushing the enter twice. Recording is in Auto mode.
Thank you!

Crash #1 posted to GPSrChive > GPSMAP 66sr > Common Issues page!
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